HORN LAKE — Before Friday night's matchup between Oxford and undefeated Horn Lake, the coach of the former, Chris Cutcliffe, said the biggest thing he'd noticed about his team after eight weeks of play was that they had "bought in".

It showed on the field as the Chargers beat the undefeated Eagles of Horn Lake 21-0.

The Chargers came in as the underdog. They were 5-3 overall and 1-2 in region play. None of that mattered to them. They held Horn Lake, the Region 1-6A leader, scoreless. Going in that was a team that was averaging 41-points a game.

"I think our guys on defense have really played good all year," Cutcliffe said. "I just saw that consistency continue. We tackled well, we didn't allow big plays and then obviously when we got them out of their comfort zone and had to start throwing the ball late our secondary made a lot of big plays."

The defense forced seven turnovers, four interceptions, two forced fumbles and one muffed punt.

When asked what the problem was for Horn Lake's explosive offense all Brad Boyette had to say was, "Oxford's defense."

Second half dramatics

Offsetting penalties opened the second half, followed by two flags on Oxford for unsportsmanlike conduct. Horn Lake was set up at the Oxford's 30-yard line with all of the momentum, or so it thought.

The drive ended with a punt, but more importantly, the momentum was back on the Chargers side.

"All the adversity we've been through we knew we had to step up," Oxford's Quentin Wilfawn said. "It never crossed our mind that they were going to run away with the game after they took the momentum back. We knew what we had to do and we did it."

Wilfawn finished with 15 tackles, one for a loss, while teammate CJ Terrell came up big in the secondary. Terrell snagged three interceptions, including one he returned 31 yards for a touchdown.

Everything was clicking.

"At the beginning of the game it was kind of laid back," Terrell said. "I just had a couple tackles. They really didn't try me in the first half but in the second I knew they had to put points up. One of us had to step up and luckily it was me. I'm glad I could do it for the team."

Oxford's Offense

Offensively Oxford fought for every yard and earned every first down, putting itself ahead 7-0 at the half with a 21-yard touchdown run from QB John Reece McClure in the second quarter.

The next score of the night wouldn't come until the fourth quarter. On a third down, McClure completed an 85-yard touchdown pass to Jaquan Webb. It was all but over after that.

"It was huge," McClure said. "The defense has been working all year. They fight for us and we knew we had to make a big play going out there."